Quick Shots: Martellus Bennett is Chicago Bears’ best free agent

The 2-0 Bears would be 0-2 without Martellus Bennett. At $20 million for four years, he’s looking like the best free-agent signing in team history. He’s also illustrating just how badly the Bears ignored the tight end position for 40 years. But unless Alshon Jeffery improves dramatically, the Bears still might be one receiver short.

The 2-0 Bears would be 0-2 without Martellus Bennett. At $20 million for four years, he’s looking like the best free-agent signing in team history. He’s also illustrating just how badly the Bears ignored the tight end position for 40 years. But unless Alshon Jeffery improves dramatically, the Bears still might be one receiver short.

Fake suspension

Alabama “suspended” running back T.J. Yeldon for one quarter against Colorado State. That’s showing him! Not starting a player or “benching” him for 15 minutes is no punishment; it’s just a stunt to make the coach and school look good.

Winning in KC

Andy Reid couldn’t win with a “Dream Team” in Philadelphia the last two years, but is 3-0 with a Kansas City team that was 2-14 last year and 29-67 the previous six seasons. Reid is also winning the same way he used to win with the Eagles: with strong defense and a safe dink-and-dunk passer. Donovan McNabb averaged 6.9 yards per pass for his career but had the fourth-lowest interception rate (2.2 percent). Alex Smith is averaging 7.1 yards with zero interceptions and 2.8 percent career rate.

2 wild cards work

As bad an idea as the wild card was — how unfair is it to play 162 games and start all over with the second-place team on the same footing as first place in a seven-game playoff series? — adding a second wild card is baseball’s best move in decades. Now a second-place team can be eliminated in one day. And six American League teams began Saturday within three games of the wild card lead. That’s a great mix of both being fair and creating pennant race interest.

New strategy

The Bengals threw 32 passes vs. 10 runs in the first half against the Steelers, yet finished with 127 yards rushing. Pittsburgh ran on its first three plays, including third-and-9, and had 16 runs vs. 19 passes before throwing 18 straight passes in desperation to end the game. This means Green Bay and Chicago could both have a harder time than expected today if the Bengals learned they need to throw more and the Steelers finally learned they can’t run worth squat. But if they try to lead with the run, the Packers and Bears will win easily.